On wellness.

What started out as a slight tickle quickly blossomed into a full-blown sore throat that ultimately left me begging for mercy at Dairy Queen's drive-thru window. I wanted...I NEEDED...something icy and cold. Something super soothing that would relieve my pain, like a small dish of vanilla ice cream. And so I got it. But that was Saturday and today is Thursday. And unfortunately, things haven't really changed that much

Except for the fact that I've switched from Dairy Queen to a generic form of Theraflu. I feel (and look) like crap and it totally sucks. I somehow managed to get through my Circuit Sculpt class on Monday, but I think that made things worse as I spent most of Monday night wondering whether I'd be able to breathe while sleeping. Clearly I could, otherwise I might not be typing this (thanks for worrying about me for that brief millisecond, though). I woke up Tuesday sans voice, and have battled the inability to speak clearly ever since. Oh, and I'm going through Kleenex like it's my job. But back to the voice thing—when you're a personal trainer, you kinda need your voice in order to bark out orders. Well, lemme tell ya...I'm still barking out orders. Quite literally as I sound like a hacking dog when I speak. My clients just laugh at me, and I continue to reassure them that I've washed my hands about a thousand times in the last hour. Don't think I'm contagious, at least I'm trying not to be. But it sucks, it really sucks because all I want to do is curl up with my favorite brown blanket and tackle my book, my stacks of magazines or my Sex and the City DVDs and some hot tea. But I can't, I have to work. I have the energy, well...most of it. Just not the voice. And my nose won't stop running.

And Jason keeps mocking me, which makes me laugh because he's so good at it, which then makes my throat hurt even more.

Which brings me to today's topic. Wellness. What is it? (Clearly not me, at least not right now.) I get this funky magazine in the mail, it's called To Your Health and it supplements some chiropractic journal I've somehow gotten on the mailing list for. It's addressed to Dr. Tara Sabo, which is hilarious, and I think it's meant to be added to the repertoire of magazines in my waiting room (which I clearly do not have, so it ends up in my living room). Anyhow, the recent issue contains an article about wellness from which I bring you the following quote:

Translation: Wellness is a way of life. It's about being healthy, and it's also about prevention. Because we can't stop preventing simply because we're healthy. And when we're unhealthy, we must be proactive in a way that discovers the root of our unhealthiness. True wellness is about making choices that promote our happy, healthiest best. Choices that help us avoid medical snafus because it's not about how we feel on this day or that, it's how we feel continuously. And what we do to keep ourselves feeling continuously good.

For example, I am sick because I work in a gigantic petri dish. A gym is not the cleanest environment, despite the sanitary wipes and hand gel. I use all of the above regularly, and I wash my hands before and after each and every client I meet with or class I teach. But the one time I slack back—that's the one time I expose myself to the funk and gunk. And this time, it got the best of me.

But that's small potatoes in the grand scheme of my life. And yours, too. Think big picture when it comes to wellness. Think about what you do each and every day, what you eat and what you drink, think about how all of that plays a role in your well-being. Are you giving your body the fuel it needs? Are you challenging it in ways that makes it stronger, more capable of fighting the bad guys (otherwise known as sickness and disease and chronic whatever). If you are, if you're constantly on the lookout for your own self, then and only then can you say that you are well. Which makes sense, right?

When it comes to fitness, working out is not about building muscle. It's about building muscle so that your body can move in the way you want it to now and for years to come. Working out is about strengthening your bones and challenging your cardiovascular and respiratory systems so that when you play with your children or grandchildren—you can keep up. Or so that you can get from one aisle to the next as you weave in and out and around all the holiday shoppers. (Because let's face it, they're crazy and it's that time of year.) Get what I mean, though? It's about giving yourself the ability to live your life to its fullest.

With that, I'll sign off by encouraging each and every one of you, dear readers, to address your own sense of wellness. And I'll get you thinking with the following...

Question: What are you doing each and every day to give yourself a "daily dose" of wellness? Are you eating healthy? Taking vitamins? Getting regular check-ups? Hitting the gym? Let me know some of your tricks.